Byakuya Togami
Byakuya Togami is a protagonist from the Danganronpa series. He made his series debut in School Daze under the identity of Brennan Ishida. Canon As tradition for the Togami family, Byakuya had to beat out his other siblings in order to become the heir of the Togami Corporation. He was the youngest candidate to ever do so, becoming the Ultimate Affluent Progeny as a result and attending Hope's Peak Academy. After a year attending the academy, a tragedy occurred that plunged the world into chaos and despair. Byakuya and the rest of his class agreed to seal themselves inside the school building to protect themselves from the destruction outside. As it turned out, "Ultimate Despair", the group responsible for causing the tragedy in the first place, were in Byakuya's midst. Stripped of their memories of the past two years, Byakuya and his class were forced into participating in the School Life of Mutual Killing incident by a bear named Monokuma, who was being controlled by the despair-obsessed Junko Enoshima. Though they suffered casualties, Byakuya and his class managed to defeat Junko, and the survivors were free to leave the school. With that, Byakuya, with the six survivors who survived the incident, joined the Future Foundation. Pre-Convergence After the Future Foundation dealt with what remained of "Ultimate Despair", the group eventually came across the means to travel across the multiverse. Wanting to end despair across all universes, the Future Foundation gathered what info they could, eventually learning of the Arch Demon and the threat he was to the multiverse. The Future Foundation eventually entered into a partnership with G.O.R.E. and created a fighting force called the Coalition. Byakuya was performing his duties as a member of both the Future Foundation and the Coalition when the Dark Presence made a copy of him using his memories. This copy was placed into a simulation of the Dark Place's creation designed to to turn beings made from memories into fully realized beings that the Dark Presence could possess as hosts. Plot Involvement School Daze Under the persona of Brennan Ishida, Byakuya believed he was a foreign exchange student in a regular American high school, sent there so he could be humbled by his wealthy parents. He was often at odds with Bailey Morrison over student council leadership and did not get along with many of the other students. During prom, all of the students were knocked out via gas and the school was locked down during their time asleep. When the students awoke, they found themselves as players in a sick game by an unknown mastermind. Byakuya ended up being one of the non-player students in the game, but this was note a role he would take sitting down. As the players were to travel into numbered doors in order to unlock different areas of the school, Byakuya joined one of the groups, learning that non-players could move freely without restriction as long as players led the way. The group he joined ended up in the boiler room, where Bailey Morrison was revealed to be trapped in a furnace. The aim of the game the players had to play was to stick their hands into open flames for a combined amount of time to stop Bailey from being burned alive. Byakuya demanded that the players not risk their lives as they were needed to finish the game, but the players worked to save Bailey anyway. Kisho Taniyama accused Byakuya of wanting Bailey dead for personal reasons, but Byakuya reasoned he was only thinking of the overall group's survival. After Bailey was saved, Byakuya later joined a second group who discovered the vice-principal, Troy Delta, tied to a chair in a locked room. This gave the group access to the office where they found the announcement system rigged to play pre-set announcements. Byakuya reasoned that this meant the one running this game was either a student or a member of the faculty, though this brought suspicion upon him. Soon after, Byakuya and Damien rescued a player who was trapped in the library, This player was Yui, who hugged Byakuya as thanks, much to his disgust. Byakuya joined one final group as they explored the botanical room. It was here he grew frustrated at the players' inability to solve puzzles, having to do them all himself as a non-player. The group then gained access to the garden where they discovered Meira Franz's dead body. Byakuya confiscated a keycard from her body that would let the players move forward, but also secretly acquired a gun hidden on Meira's body. At the game's conclusion, the non-players of the school grew unhappy with the players, for all of their bad behavior and ineptitude began to pile up. Byakuya took this opportunity to take control of the situation, revealing that the bracelets the players were using as keys worked even after the players died. Byakuya reasoned that the true goal of the game was for the non-players to realize this, take out the players, and use the bracelets for themselves. To cement this plan, Byakuya took out the gun he had secretly taken from Meira's body and shot Jason Cortez Wilson dead. It was then that the lights went out and the school began to shake. Byakuya ended up taking Umeko Moe as a hostage to use her against Aaron White. When a staircase appeared leading deeper into the school, Byakuya attempted to make demands to go down in safety. However, Aaron devised a scheme with James Lancaster to kill Byakuya, but he ended up shooting Logan Wilson in the shoulder and shoved Umeko into Aaron to make his escape. He didn't get away unscathed, as he left a blood trail in his wake from James' knife. Byakuya was later found at the final door, where he had Bailey taken hostage. Shadow monsters attacked the group and everyone made a mad dash for the final door. In the end, Byakuya was one of the few among non-players and players alike to reach the finale, where every survivor was given the opportunity to weed out the Overseer of the game and his or her helper. The group eventually managed to successfully vote for both the Overseer and Saboteur. This meant that the Saviors had won, allowing the Diver to rescue many of the survivors, along with Byakuya. Monokuma's Awakening After spending some time in the Dark Place, Byakuya eventually made contact with his real self, bringing him to the Dark Place so the two selves could merge. This meant that Byakuya went missing from the Coalition for a time before the Daughter Incident occurred. Byakuya appeared during the event's climax as one of the Diver's saviors. He assisted the survivors in escaping Junko Enoshima's clutches and returned with them to the real world, where he reunited with Kyoko Kirigiri. Civil War Byakuya returned to duty as a member of the Coalition and ended up having a minor presence during the Coalition Civil War. When Umbrella infiltrated the Coalition Headquarters, Byakuya ended up as one of the group's hostages, held captive in the facility's infirmary until his eventual rescue. House of M At some point following the Coalition Civil War, Byakuya was sent a report from the future, detailing an incident that had yet to occur. With his name not on the report and considering the serious matters discussed in the report, Byakuya knew he had to keep the matter a secret. He began to make plans to facilitate what would soon become known as the Eveline Incident. After Makoto Naegi went missing, Kyoko Kirigiri received a mysterious invitation from Wanda Maximoff. Feeling the need to investigate the matter, Kyoko left Byakuya in charge while she left to heed the invitation. During this time, Byakuya finalized his plans followed her so that he could make sure everything went according to plan. At the conclusion of the incident, the survivors found Byakuya, who explained that the event they had just suffered through had to happen to so that a future prophecy could be fulfilled. He explained that he was instrumental in this as he ended up sending the letters that Wanda had written, but managed to resist sending herself. Understanding that someone had to be made to pay for what occurred, Byakuya allowed himself to be arrested by the Coalition. Byakuya had been taken into ODMA's custody, where he eventually was made a member of the group, though this outcome was made a secret to both Kyoko and Makoto. Epilogue(s) School Daze Once the survivors were rescued, the Diver explained to them that everyone could go and make new lives for themselves or reunite with their true selves. However, Byakuya, along with Bailey, Deanna Dean, and Simon Black were told the Dark Presence still had some hold on them. Byakuya chose to fight the Dark Presence alongside the Diver until a time when he could return home. Monokuma's Awakening Once they were safe in the real world, Byuakuya informed Kyoko Kirigiri she had returned it in time for Makoto Naegi's birthday. The Diver later explained to Byakuya and his other saviors that they were free to return to their regular lives now, no longer needed to fight the Dark Presence. Civil War Byakuya appeared briefly during the epilogue, watching over Jennifer's comatose body with Ruby Rose. In his own blunt way, he gave the girl words of encouragement to help her be at ease with her friend's affliction. Character Relationships * Kyoko Kirigiri - A major character from [http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Dangan_Ronpa_Wiki '''Danganronpa']'' who first appeared in Chillin' in Columbia. Kyoko is considered a close and old partner to Byakuya's, Byakuya having gone through the same tribulations as Makoto and Kyoko, and while their personalities clash with each other from time to time, Kyoko trusts him dearly. Their relationship had become strained and complicated following the events of the Eveline Incident considering Byakuya's involvement in the event. * Makoto Naegi - A major character from [http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Dangan_Ronpa_Wiki '''Danganronpa']'' who first appeared in Shadow Over Gotham. The pair couldn't be more different in terms of personality, but somehow share a friendship and respect for one another after all they have been through together. Though it has so far gone unspoken, Makoto understands more than any other member of the Coalition what it means to do what one believes is right, no matter what anyone else believes. * Arc - A character from Final Fantasy III who made his series debut in School Daze under the identity of Aaron White. Byakuya started up an odd relationship with Arc that was not quite a friendship when the pair worked together on a history assignment. The pair were at odds at times, though directly came up against each other when Byakuya attempted to take down Arc and the other players. Since neither individual has met since their time in the Dark Place, it is unknown what either thinks of the other at this point in time. Trivia * Considering the unstable nature of Byakuya's illusion identity in School Daze and his involvement in facilitating the events of House of M, Byakuya can be seen as a sort of anti-hero within the Convergence series. * The surname of Byakuya's Illusion identity, Ishida, is a reference to his Japanese voice actor, Akira Ishida. * Byakuya is briefly mentioned in Right Hand of the Magic God as one of the countless deaths caused by the destruction of the Multiverse by the hands of Othinus. It’s presumed that he came back to life following the Multiverse’s restoration. Category:Characters Category:Danganronpa characters Category:NPCs Category:Coalition Category:ODMA Category:School Daze Category:Monokuma's Awakening Category:Civil War Category:House of M Category:The City of Avalon Category:Right Hand of the Magic God